With doldrums downstate, Capital Region most confident

Results of the most recent quarterly survey of consumer confidence in the state’s largest metro areas released this morning, show the Capital Region posting the highest index, at 82.2, up 0.1 from the last survey. The survey, covering the third quarter, was conducted by the Siena Research Institute in Loudonville.

New York City consumers, meanwhile, were feeling far less confident, with an index that tumbled 9.6 points to just 77.5. Other metros also saw declines, with Buffalo off 6.1 points to 70.5; the Mid-Hudson region off 2.5 points to 77.8; Utica down 5.8 points to 71.1; and Binghamton tumbling 10.2 points to 65.8. Syracuse was the only other metro posting a gain, up 0.8 to 77.0. Rochester was unchanged at 75.7.

“It was a volatile quarter with a great deal of negative news and big swings in the stock market taking its toll on confidence in New York City,” said Douglas Lonnstrom, Siena College professor of finance and statistics and SRI Founding Director. “Albany and Syracuse were up slightly, Rochester held steady but all other areas were down, some substantially.”

Economists watch the figures closely because they indicate consumers’ willingness to spend. And consumer spending makes up about two-thirds of overall economic activity.

A separate portion of the survey, on consumers’ buying plans, also found that 31 of the 40 categories of buying decisions were down.

The surveis based on one conducted nationally by the University of Michigan, with the index set at 100 in the base year of 1966.